by Nate Chinen

09/02/2009

Super Nova

Ars Nova Workshop, the leading jazz and new-music presenter
in Philadelphia, launched a stylish new
website today. It’s content-rich, as these things go: blog, archives,
audio. And I’m struck by how effectively this design highlights the scope of
the organization, an independent nonprofit now entering its 10th season.

I claim no objectivity here: Ars Nova founder Mark Christman was a groomsman in my wedding. (The brooding image above ran as part of a recent piece by David Adler, in the Philadelphia Weekly.) Mark’s obsessive seriousness about the music is what fuels the machine. In recent years I’ve heard about many
more of his shows than I had the opportunity to attend. But I was there for the
first one: Chris Speed’s yeahNO, at the Plays & Players Theater. When I
heard last week’s sad news about Joe Maneri, my thoughts quickly turned to an
Ars Nova show from a few years back, featuring Joe and his son Mat.

Ars Nova’s fall season kicks off next Friday with the Mary
Halvorson Quintet, whom I’ve covered
here. Scan the calendar and you’ll notice a good number of events worth
traveling to see: a Don Cherry composer portrait, for starters, and a series
called “Anti-Jazz: The New Thing Revisited” (with the Sun Ra Arkestra, the Art
Ensemble of Chicago, and Bill Dixon with the Exploding Star Orchestra). In the
interest of full disclosure and, yes, self-promotion: I’ll be taking part in a
Q&A preceding this Tim
Berne event in December.